When entering the minefield of exchanging your hard earned cash before you jet off on holiday. Consider a FairFX Currency Card to get some of the cheapest exchange rates. Making the correct choice will transform your holiday - changing the experience from a penny pinching worry into a pleasurable stress free break.
Credit Cards and Online
Credit cards are a bad idea as far as the cheapest exchange rates go as they are deemed to be a cash advance and you will be charged a fee of between 2-4 percent. Some banks also charge these fees on their debit cards so it's best to check with your bank. Buying your holiday money online is another option because the exchange rate on offer applies to the day you order the currency so if you are organised you can be lucky. However, you do have to queue up with everyone else and pick up your currency from the airport. If you are not flying, beware, not every ferry port or railway station will have a tie-in bureau to the online provider.
The Post Office and High Street
The Post Office and Marks & Spencer Money both offer commission-free currency exchange, but in reality what happens is you end up paying over the odds with a poorer exchange rate, which can often be far removed from the true cost of foreign currency. Check rates on XE.com or other sites, and then look at the rates offered by high street providers, and you can see how much money you will be losing out on.
The Easy Way - A Travel Prepaid Card
A Travel money card, is just like a regular prepaid card. The difference is that you can load the card with the foreign currency of your choosing and then use it overseas.The prepaid card is used like a debit or credit card wherever it's accepted around the world - and for cash withdrawals. This means goodbye to carrying a heavy wallet - as the money you need is safely on a convenient piece of plastic. Our currency card is more secure and convenient than cash and less likely to be stolen. Should your card be compromised - once the available funds are depleted there's no credit facility to go into and the card is not linked to your bank account.
With travel prepaid cards there are no credit checks - because you aren't using credit, only accessing your own money that you have loaded onto the card. Most prepaid cards are now backed by Visa or MasterCard - and accepted in a numerous global retailers, merchants, ATMs and restaurants.Once you have a card, you will be getting the cheapest exchange rates compared to using a credit or debit card. Most of those cards charge you 2.99% on any purchase or cash withdrawal, while this won't apply to a travel prepaid card. If you think carefully about how and where you plan to spend on your card, and what you plan to use it for - you should be able to choose a card that will give you the cheapest exchange rates and peace of mind.
Tuesday 16 March 2010, 02:32pm
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